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*

TEXTS F,QR STUDENTS, No. 9

GENERAL EDITORS: CAROLINE A. j. SKEEL, D.Lrr.;

H. J. WHITE, D.D. ; J. P. WHITNEY, D.D., D.C.L.

THE INSCRIPTIONON THE

STELE OF MESA'COMMONLY CALLED

THE MOABITE STONE

THE TEXT IN MOABITE AND HEBREW,% WITH TRANSLATION

KY

H. F. B. COMPSTON, MA.VICAR OF BREDWARDINE, HEREFORD

LONDON :

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTINGCHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGENEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1919

LONDON :

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,DUKE STREET, S.E. I.

PREFACE

THE text adopted in this edition is that of the late

Dr. Driver's Hebrew transcription in the Appendix to

the Introduction of his Notes on the Hebrew Text . . . of

the Books of Samuel, 2nd edition, 1913, by the kind

permission of the Delegates of the Clarendon Press,

Oxford.

The Moabite (Phoenician) re-transcription has been

made from the above-mentioned text. This feature of

the present edition new in such works may, it is

hoped, be of use to persons beginning the study of

Semitic palaeography. It should be noted that the type

used represents a more or less standardized Phoenician

script, and is not a facsimile of that of the Inscription,

several letters of which (e.g. y, k, q, s, t) represent a

more ancient fashion of writing.

I wish to acknowledge indebtedness to Dr. Driver's

translation and commentary, Dr. W. H. Bennett's The

Moabite Stone (1911), and the Tafel in Smend and Socin :

Die Inschrift des Konigs Mesa von Moab (1886).

H. F. B. C.

Jan. 22, 1919.

CONTENTSPAGE

PREFACE , . ... . . . .3INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . 5

Moabite Text in Phoenician script ... 7

The Text in Hebrew square script . . .11

Translation into English ; . . . .14

INTRODUCTION

THE Inscription here set forth is accepted, with prac-

tical unanimity on the part of experts, as authentic. It

was chiselled on a monument of basalt, by order of the

Mesa', King of Moab, who is mentioned in 2 Kings iii. 4,

and who here recounts his victoriesjover Israel, to whomMoab had long been subject. The date must be some-

where about mid-ninth century B.C., the era of Omri and

Ahab, Elijah and Elisha, and Jehu. Line 7 may allude

to the overthrow of Omri's dynasty by Jehu, circa 843 B.C.

The interest of this famous monument is manifold..

(a) To the student of palaeography it offers a good

specimen of Phoenician script, parent of Alphabets,used not only by Moab but by Israel (as shown e.g. bythe Siloam Inscription, eighth century B.C.) ;

the older

portions of the Old Testament were, in all probability,

written in this script.

(6) The linguist can here study the essential features

of the Grammar and Syntax, along with a useful

vocabulary, of the Moabite language, separated from

Hebrew by merely dialectical differences. A Hebrewstudent will find the inscription very like historical

narrative in the Old Testament.

(c) The historian finds in the Inscription a valuable

contribution to the little-known story of a people longextinct.

(d) The theologian sees evidence confirming what

modern Biblical study has revealed as to Semitic

religion. For there are, e.g. references to Kemos, the

god of Moab, and to Yahwell- God of Israel, and His

shrine at Nebo, with allusions to the treatment of con-

6 INTRODUCTION

quered cities"devoted," i.e. put under the ban (herem),

to the national god.

The stele, or rather the upper portion of the original

monument, measuring 3 feet in height, 2 feet in width,

and 2 feet in thickness, was discovered in 1868 by the

Eev. F. A. Klein, of the Church Missionary Society, on

the site of the ancient Moabite city of Dibon. Its ex-

istence was known, from the report of natives, shortly

previous to this event, to Monsieur Clermont-Ganneau,the eminent French archaeologist. The great interest

shown by Europeans, and their offers to purchase, led

the Arabs in the neighbourhood to break it up, possibly

with the object of selling the fragments at fancy prices.

Fire was kindled beneath the stone, cold water dashed

on the top of it, and the priceless monument was soon

cracked in pieces. Happily, before this stupid act of

vandalism was perpetrated, rubbings of the inscription

had been secured. Later on most of the fragments were

recovered, the missing portions restored with the help of

the rubbings, and the Stele of Mesa' now stands in the

Louvre. There is a facsimile in the British Museum.

The Inscription may be studied more fully with the

aid of the works mentioned in the Preface to the presentedition and other works named in their bibliographies,

or in the various Dictionaries of the Bible.

Students offering the subject for examination should

practise transcription in Phoenician and Hebrew, and

should add vowel-points to the latter. This would

prove a useful exercise. After the revision of his vocali-

zation the student should, with a fine pen, point the

Hebrew text on pp. 11-13, adding in the margin, or on

an inserted fly-leaf, any various readings or alternative

pointings.

INSCRIPTION OF MESA'

T. THE MOABITE TEXT IN PHOENICIAN SCRIPT.

Words and letters within square brackets are restored con-

jecturally. Overlined letters are more or less uncertain of

identification.

. yA .

y .

THE MOABITE STONE.

u<

[y] . yo^ .>/.

[y fi]x -.

Titjj

fix .

10

u

12

is

14

. fi 17

THE MOABITE STONE.

is

19

21

22

y^y . fit . "*/)} . y> 23

yy 25

26

27

10 THE MOABITE STONE.

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

THE MOABITE STONE. 11

II. THE TEXT IN HEBREW SQUARE SCRIPT.

Words and letters within square brackets are restored con-

jecturally. Ocerlined letters are more or less uncertain of

identification.

-in . SND

. man BWI I "^[> nain i nnipn

I

pi -

pr

xn

n -

pxi i ^a tr^D nn 9

* The )| in Driver's text is obviously a misprint for J"| . See

translation. The Moabite is clearly ^

12 THE MOABITE STONE.

rm? pKi - nsr . nj - ew 1 jnnp nx 10

ips. DnnSxi i rrw . nx

Dbj oyn . SD n

aew i nxDi e^a nn npn 12

n nn ne^Ni I nnpn- e^on ua - nnn 13

^x - nxi .

nx . inx tr^D . TD^ i rnna

Si I ^x^^ Sy

mnfc?n yM - nn . Dnn^xi rbhi n

I pm -

pffli- jsx . rone^ - r^ nnao nr

n^li - nnn^

nwi I nnannn . tyDD . *wyS o i nanii n

D-HM-tVO

sS Dn . SHDNI . nin- - ^

19

THE MOABITE STONE. 13

nm W3 -pK i pn . hy 21

n&rn psrn

pan I Sayn 22

i I bnb*u&- ra . T03 . ^ 23

nil

nnipa.

npn anpa-

JK iai I ipn24

"

25

"n:j::i T^ ' ^ w 26

piwa. o . n^a - ra .

|^- pn SD o J^DH pn - v 23

5Sa -

-pNi

hy ^nsD- . IPK -

pp3 HND ^h 29

mi. nx

pira ro iw -

piini

piin3 onn^n .n ^f^3 . n^^Y 32

m Sy^ ^3 tr^D n3 [tr^i 33

34

14 THE MOABITE STONE.

III. TRANSLATION.

Words in italics are required by English idiom : they are

not in the original. The transliteration of proper names is

in accordance with the notation in the Hebrew Grammar of

Gesenius. Words and letters within square brackets are re-

stored conjecturally. Words within curved brackets are alter-

native renderings, &c.

1 I am Mesa' son of Kemos ? king of Mo'ab the Da-

2 -ibonite. My father reigned over Mo'ab thirty yearsand I reign-

3 -ed after my father. And I made this high place for

K'mos in Krhh.* [High place of sal-]

4 -vation, for he had saved me from all the assailants (?),

and because he had caused me to look uponf all

my foes. 'Omr-

5 -i was king of Yisra'el, and he afflicted Mo'ab daysmany, for Kemos was angry with his la-

6 -iid. And his son succeeded him, and he too said I

will afflict Mo'ab. In my days he said s[o],

7 and I looked upon f him and upon his house. AndIsrael utterly perished everlastingly. And 'Oinri

possessed the [la-]

8 -nd of Mehedeba. And (Israel) dwelt therein, his

days and half the days of his son, forty years; and

9 Kemos restored it in my days. And I built Ba'al-ni e"6n

and I made therein the reservoir(?), and I built

* line 3. Perhaps" K'rehah" or " Korhah."

f lines 4, 7." Look upon," i.e., with exultation over a fallen foe.

Cf. Ps. lix. 10 E.V.

THE MOABITE STONE. 15

10 Kiryaten. Now the men of Gad had dwelt in the

land of'atarot from of old : and the king of Yi[sra'el

(beginning of line 11)] built for himself

1 1'atarot. And I fought against the city and took it.

And I slew all the people [from]

12 the city, a gazing-stock for K emos and for Mo'ab. AndI restored (or captured) from thence the altar-

hearth (?) of Dawdoh (or its tutelary spirit?), and

I drag-

13 -ged it before Kemos in Keriyyot. And I placed

therein the men of Srn * and the men of

14 Mhrt.f And Kemos said unto me Go, seize Neboh

against Yisra'el. And I

15 went by night, and fought against it from dawn unto

noon. And I sei-

16 -zed it and slew all of it, 7000 men and men-sgojoumers f

and women & [women-sojourner-] |

17 s, and damsels; for toC

astar-Keinos had I devoted it.

And I took from thence the [ves-]

18 -sels of Yahweh, and dragged them before Kemos.

Now the king of Yisra'el had built

19 Yahas, and dwelt therein while he fought against

me. And Kcmos drove him away from before me,

and

20 I took from Mo'ab 200 men, all the head-men thereof ;

and I brought them up against Yahas, and seized it

21 to add unto Daibon. I built Krhh, the wall of

Ye'arin (or the woods), and the wall of

* line 13. Saron (?)

t line 14. Maharat (?)

% line 16. I.e., recognised settlers. Cf. 2 Sam. i. 13.

line 21. See note, line 3.

10 THE MOABITE STONE.

22 'Opel (or the Acropolis). And I built the gates

thereof, and I built the towers thereof. And23 I built the king's house, and I made the two reser-

[voirs ? for wa]ter in the middle of

24 the city. Now cistern there was none in the middle

of the city, in Krhh.* And I said to all the people,Make to

25 you every man a cistern in his house. And I cut out

the cutting for Krhh *by means of the prisoner-

20 [-s captured from] Yisra'el. I built' aro'er and I made

the high-road by the Arnon.

27 I built Bet-bfunot for it was destroyed. I built Beser

for ruins

28 [had it become. And the head-me]n of Daibon were

50, for all Daibon was loyal. And I reign-

29 -od [o^er] 100 in the cities which I added to the

land. And I buil-

30 -t M>hede

[b]a and Bet-diblaten, and Bet-ba al-m e'6n;

and I brought thither the sheep-m asters (?)f

31 sheep of the land. And Horonen,there dwelt therein ? ?

32 V [And] Kemos said unto me,

Go down, fight against Horonen. And 1 went down

33 and K emos [resto]red it in my days.And . . . . . from thence

34 And I

lines 24, 25. See note, line 3. f line 30. See 2 Kings Hi. 4.